All I Want for Christmas is You
by EvenAngelsFall22
Summary: What Courtney really wants for Christmas is the only thing Jax can't give her.


**_Disclaimer: _**I asked Santa, but so far, General Hospital still doesn't belong to me.

**_Summary: _**What Courtney wants for Christmas is the one thing Jax really can't give her.

**_Author's Note: _**Well, I've wanted to write a Christmas themed story for Journey since I started listening to my Christmas CDS back on November 1st, and I've had this floating around in my head but never really got the motivation to write it until watching Chrismakkuh on the OC this past week. It's fluff, and cheesy, but that's what happens when I mix Diet Coke, Candy Canes, and Christmas music! Let me know what you think!

The song is _All I Want For Christmas Is You, _but it's not the Mariah Carey one. This one is by Vince Vance and the Valiants, and if you haven't heard it, you should check it out.

* * *

_Take back the holly and mistletoe  
Silver bells on strings  
If I wrote a letter to Santa Claus  
I would ask for just one thing _

Courtney rolled her eyes as Jax snuck up behind her, holding a piece of plastic mistletoe above them and smiling at her with twinkling eyes. She allowed him to place a kiss innocently on her cheek as she turned back to watch as Michael and Morgan finally made their way to Santa's lap. She couldn't help but laugh as she watched how big Morgan's eyes got and how serious Michael looked as he gave his list to the man in red.

She loved Christmas; there was no denying that. She was one of _those people._ The ones that would start singing Christmas carols November 1st, had all of her Christmas shopping done by the middle of December, and had all of her decorations up the day after Thanksgiving.

She chuckled again, remembering the first Christmas she had spent with Sonny and Carly and Jason. Sonny and Carly had thought she was insane, but Jason had indulged her. Well, for the most part he did. He didn't object to her stringing up lights throughout every single room in the loft, and when she picked out the biggest, fullest tree in the lot he didn't even point out how it wouldn't even fit in their living room, he just smiled, bought it for her, and then when it wouldn't fit, he simply made it fit. In fact, the only thing he actually objected to was when she tried to volunteer him to dress up as Santa for a Christmas party at the diner.

This Christmas was different though. Here it was, the 23rd of December and she didn't even have a tree yet. She had helped Jax decorate the one at his place, but never bothered to go get one of her own. She couldn't remember if she had even sung Jingle Bells yet this year.

It just wasn't the same.

_I don't need sleigh rides in the snow  
Don't want a Christmas that is blue  
Take back the tinsel, stockings, and bows  
Cause all I want for Christmas is you_

Jax was a great boyfriend to have around the holidays; she couldn't argue that. She had never seen a grown man get so excited over Christmas as he did. Every time she saw him they he had some new holiday-themed activity for them to do. They had built snowmen in the park, they had baked sugar cookies, or rather, Courtney had baked them and Jax watched her and ate the frosting. Tree decorating or Christmas shopping, it didn't matter; Jax was up for all of it.

Like right now. It had been his idea to take the boys to see Santa Claus. When Michael had told him they had already talked to Santa, Jax just grinned and said they could never see him too many times.

Shortly after seeing Santa, Jax got a phone call and had to go into his office for reasons unknown to Courtney, but it was something she was used to, so she put it out of her mind and took the boys into the park, and while Morgan sat in his stroller, trying to catch snowflakes with his mittens, Courtney and Michael had a snowball fight.

And it was fun. She loved seeing the boys have so much fun, and yeah, she was having a pretty good time too.

"You throw like a girl Aunt Courtney," Michael giggled as he ducked and her snowball splattered against the tree behind them.

"Oh yeah?" she challenged, scooping up another handful. "We'll just see about that!" She chased him a little bit, took aim, and totally missed hitting him with the snow. "Oh!" the gasp escaped her lips before she could stop it.

Jason stood there, brushing the snow off of his sleeve. "Michael's got a point," he said. "You do throw like a girl."

She grinned despite herself. "I still managed to hit you," she said with a smirk.

"Yeah, but you were about 12 feet to the left of where you were aiming to hit," he said. "Let's show her how it's done Michael." And before she knew it, she was being pelted with snowballs from 2 angles.

"All right, stop!" she sputtered as she chased after Michael, trying to shield her face from flying snow. She managed to get to him and they crashed to the ground, in a fit of laughter. Jason came over to help them up but Michael grabbed onto his leg and sent him toppling on top of them in a heap.

Courtney tried to get up but she was breathless from the cold and from giggling too much and when she finally managed to untangle herself from the pile, her eyes locked directly with Jason's.

"What are you doing out here anyways?" she asked, as he helped her back to her feet.

"Picking up some decorations Sam needed for the tree," he said, nodding towards the shopping bag he had dropped by Morgan's stroller. "What are you three up to?"

"We saw Santa again," Michael said. "And he said he remembered everything I told him I wanted before, but I told him again anyways."

"That's great Michael," Jason said, still looking intently at Courtney. "And what did you ask for?"

_I don't need expensive things  
They don't matter to me  
All that I want  
Can't be found  
Underneath the Christmas tree  
_

Later that night Courtney lay wrapped up in Jax's arms in front of the fireplace and listened as he talked about what he had planned for them tomorrow. She half-listened to his babble, something about decorating her loft and a carriage ride in the woods, but she was more focused on staring into either the fireplace or the mug of hot chocolate in her hands.

Jax was trying; she knew that. All he wanted was for to have the best Christmas possible, and he was working overtime to make that happen, but he just didn't understand. She could care less about all of the neatly, expensively wrapped boxes that sat perched underneath his tree, all bearing her name on them. She had seen the receipts lying on his desk, all from Macy's and Saks, and Chanel, and she was pretty sure she even saw one from Tiffany's, but it didn't matter. Jax could buy her all the gifts in the world; it wasn't going to make her any happier.

So the question that now plagued her was simply, why wasn't she happy?

_You are the angel that tops my tree  
You are my dream come true  
Santa can't bring me what I need  
Cause all I want for Christmas is you _

Across town Jason was sitting in his living room, a half-empty bottle of beer on the table next to him. Sam had gone to bed an hour earlier but he couldn't sleep. Instead, he sat where he was; staring at the tree he had helped Sam decorate that evening.

It wasn't even close to the extravagant masterpieces Courtney had put together in previous years. The tree stood a mere four feet tall, instead of the eight feet standards Courtney had shoved in the same corner. Sam had opted for simple, deciding on a few strands of white lights and silver and white ornaments. It was a very nice tree, Jason decided, but it lacked the color and warmth Courtney's trees had always held.

Standing, Jason made his way over the front closet, and retrieved a box from the furthest corner of the top shelf. He brushed the dust off of it and returned to his spot on the couch. Opening the box, he lifted layers of tissue paper away to reveal its contents; a white angel tree-topper that Courtney had insisted on buying their first Christmas together but had forgotten to take with her when she moved.

"_Everyone has stars on top of their trees," _she had said when they had stood in the aisle of Wyndham's Department Store, picking out decorations. _"But not many realize how special it is to have your own angel to watch over you for all of Christmas."_

And of course, she had gotten her way. Jason didn't care much about the holidays, or decorating for that matter, but he saw how it affected Courtney, the glow that would flush her cheeks and the sparkle in her eyes that made it completely worthwhile to him.

He had drawn the line at only one request of hers. No matter how she begged and pleaded and cajoled him with promises of endless gratitude, he put his foot down and refused to put on a Santa suit for all of Port Charles to see.

Finishing off his beer, Jason couldn't help but wonder if things would have been different if he had just put the stupid thing on.

_I don't need expensive things  
They don't matter to me  
All that I want  
Can't be found  
Underneath the Christmas tree _

Sighing, he went to unplug the tree lights and shook his head at the sight before him. Sam had gone shopping, he hadn't noticed before. There were several boxed and packages that hadn't been there earlier in the day.

Sam meant well, but Jason still wasn't sure how he felt about spending Christmas with her. She didn't have anyone else to spend it with, so naturally, it was another role in her life that he felt like he should fill. He knew it would be a difficult time for her, because Lila wasn't there, but he still wasn't sure he would be able to give her the Christmas she wanted, or deserved.

Because, he reflected as he wrapped the angel back up and placed it back in its hiding spot, she sure as hell couldn't give him his._  
_

_You are the angel that tops my tree  
You are my dream come true  
Santa can't bring me what I need  
Cause all I want for Christmas is you _

Courtney smiled and placed the last ornament on her tree. Stepping back, she surveyed it satisfactorily. It was a great tree; Jax hadn't disappointed her when he showed up on her doorstep with it in tow. The disappointment came just a short while later when he received yet another business phone call, one that forced him to take the next flight out to Japan.

So she decorated the tree herself. She had popped a Christmas CD into the player and sang along with Bing Crosby and Brenda Lee as she strung popcorn and got caught up in memories as she unpacked all of her ornaments, from the ones that belonged to her great-grandmother, to the ones Michael had made her the year before.

Soon enough, she found herself showing her usual Christmas spirit, and truthfully, she didn't mind. Maybe it was Carly's "special recipe" eggnog, but for the first time this holiday season, Courtney was enjoying herself.

Once the tree was done, she set about adding little touches to the loft; garland around the doorways and stockings hung at the fireplace. She sat down to wrap up a few last minute presents, but when she looked up at the tree she noticed something was off. Her angel was missing.

Frowning, Courtney went over to the mess of boxes and bags that had held all of her decorations and combed through them. What good was a tree if it didn't have an angel on top, she wondered, as her search came up fruitless.

She pawed through a few more bags before sitting back, dejected. It dawned on her that she must have left it at the penthouse and the thought that her angel, the one she had picked out specifically for her and Jason, now hung on a tree that he decorated with someone else, was like a knife through her heart.

Courtney leaned back on her heels and stared at the tree. It didn't look finished without an angel on top. She had tried talking Jax into putting an angel on his tree, but he had stubbornly set a star on top, with much fanfare to Courtney's amusement, but it wasn't the same. Ever since she was a little girl, and her grandma Kate had told her that an angel was the only way to go, it was how it had to be done.

She could go over to Jason's, and get the angel, if that's where it was, but how awkward would that be, especially if it was already on his tree? Would Jason have even let Sam put the angel up? Along that thought, would it be right for her to put the angel up on this tree? She uncurled her legs from beneath her and stood up. She began to get ready to go outside, deciding her best course of action would be just to go buy another angel. A new year, a new start, a new angel, she couldn't go wrong that way.

Finally she was ready, and grabbing her purse she swung open her door only to be met face to face with Jason. Jason, in a Santa Claus hat, no less.

"Going somewhere?" He asked, as Courtney looked curiously at the box in his hands, and at the hat perched atop his head.

"The store," she murmured, tearing her eyes away from hat and looking at him. "What's with the Santa hat?" she asked, trying to keep the amusement in her voice at a minimum.

"Looks stupid, doesn't it?" he said, taking it off. "Michael made me wear it."

"No, not at all," she assured him. "Come on in, what's up?" she asked closing the door behind him.

"I thought you might be missing this right about now," he said, handing her the box. "Nice job," he said, nodding towards the tree. "What is that one? Nine feet?"

"Oh shush," she said, nudging him with her elbow. "It's only a few inches taller than I am, it's nowhere near as tall as the first one we had."

Jason laughed. "Yeah, remember how when we plugged the lights in we blew like what, every fuse in the whole building?"

"It was faulty wiring, not the thirteen strands of lights," Courtney insisted and Jason laughed again. "It was!"

"Sure it was." Jason shook his head. "Are you going to open that?" he asked, gesturing to the box she held in her lap.

She lifted the cover and removed all the tissue paper. "My angel," she said softly, immediately ashamed at how happy she was that it wasn't on Sam's tree. "I was looking all over for this."

"I found it in the closet yesterday," he explained. "Thought you might want it for your tree." He looked up to the bare top of the tree. "Saving a spot for it, were you?"

"No." She shook her head. "I was just going to buy a new one, I didn't know if I could, or if I should put this one up," she confessed.

"Why not?" Jason asked.

"Why didn't you put it on your tree?" she questioned.

He shrugged. "Sam wanted a star."

She nodded. "You didn't try and explain the angel to her?"

"I didn't show it to her. It wasn't mine to show, it was yours."

"Ours," she corrected softly. He nodded. They were both silent for a moment.

"Do you, you know, want me to put it on the tree for you?" he offered. "Since you're afraid of heights and all."

"I don't know," she said. "Are you going to fall off of the chair and into the tree again?"

"No," he shot back, with a wink. "Seriously, I'll put it up if you want."

"Yeah," she said, with a nod. "That'd be great." She watched as he pulled a chair from the kitchen area to next to the tree.

"How's that?" he asked, once he had secured the angel.

"A little to the left." She stepped back and squinted. "A little more. Little more. Little…perfect!" she pronounced just as Jason gave an exasperated groan. She smiled innocently as he looked down at her. "It's perfect," she declared, her blue eyes twinkling at him.

"Perfect," he repeated softly, and just like the day before, their eyes connected..

She looked like an angel, he noted ironically, as he stepped down from the chair. Scratch that. _His angel_, dressed in a white sweater, her blonde hair framing her face and those bright eyes. They stood there, eyes still fastened on each other for a few moments more.

Courtney laughed nervously, breaking the moment. "Look up," she said, her voice barely audible.

Jason raised his eyes to find that they were standing directly underneath a sprig of mistletoe. "You still a stickler for tradition?" he asked, his hand brushing against the side of her face.

"'Fraid so," she murmured, stepping closer. "Some things you just can't break," she said. Her face was mere centimeters from his now.

"And some things you just don't want to," he answered before closing the space between them, capturing her mouth with his.

_Cause all I want for Christmas is you  
_

"Jason," she murmured, breaking the kiss to eye him suspiciously.

"What?" he asked as his thumb brushed against her eyelashes.

"Michael didn't make you wear the Santa hat, did he?"

He chuckled, refusing to give her a straight answer. "I'm not wearing a Santa suit," he said, leaning in to kiss her again, but she pulled away again, grabbing the hat from its spot on the table.

"But you'll wear this?" she pleaded, setting it back on his head and giggling.

"Will it make you happy?"

"I'll take what I can get."

_Cause all I want for Christmas is you…_


End file.
